Overclocking and Conclusion
Overclocking
To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the Maximus VIII Gene motherboard, we attempted to push it to known CPU-supported performance parameters with minimal tweaking. While we were able to push the CPU to a 4.67GHz clock speed with a 4.5GHz ring bus speed, we were unable to get the board to run at a base clock speed any higher than 167MHz. When lowered the base clock to its default 100MHz, we were able to push the memory speed to an impressive 3466MHz with the CPU and ring bus running at 4.5GHz. All overclocking sessions remained stable for over 4hrs. System stability was tested running the AIDA64 stability test in conjunction with EVGA's OC Scanner X graphical benchmark running at 1280×1024 resolution and 8x MSAA in stress test mode. Note that 16GB (2 x 8GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2666 and 16GB (4 x 4GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests.
167MHz Base Clock Stats
100MHz Base Clock Stats with 3200MHz Memory
Note that this is is meant only as a quick preview of the board's performance potential. With more time to tweak the settings to a greater extent, pushing to a higher base clock and ring bus speed may have been achievable, in addition to an overnight stability run without issue.
Performance
The Maximus VIII Gene motherboard lives up to its ROG namesake with impressive stock and overclocked performance. All of its integrated peripherals and subsystems also exhibit top-notch performance, further reinforcing the board's stellar build quality.
Pricing
As of December 01, the ASUS Maximus VIII Gene motherboard was available at Amazon.com for $228.99 with Prime shipping. The board was also available from Newegg.com for $228.99 and from B&H for $228.99.
Conclusion
ASUS did a fine job in designing the Maximus VIII Gene for its ROG board line. The board features a new version of the ROG branding and color scheme, giving it an appealing aesthetic. Further, the mix of features and integrated components on the board make it worthy for consideration as a replacement for a full-sized ATX board. The one tricky placement with the board was with the M.2 slot. While there was really no other place for ASUS to put it, its positioning in between the two PCIe x16 slots could make it hard to access with a graphics card installed in the board.
Strengths
- Stock performance
- Overclocking performance
- Board aesthetics, layout, and design
- Dual PCIe x16 slots
- Motherboard manual details and quality
- UEFI BIOS design and usability
- Intel GigE network controller performance
- CMOS battery placement
Weaknesses
- M.2 port location
- Lack of integrated Wi-Fi controller
Am I reading the specs
Am I reading the specs correctly?
Multi-GPU Support :
– Supports NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ Technology
– Supports AMD Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ Technology
How can you get Quad-GPU SLI when there’s only 2x PCIe slot?
I am surprised about the price which is about $100 less than the ASUS X99-M WS.
Two dual-GPU cards in SLI.
Two dual-GPU cards in SLI. Like an AMD Radeon 295 x2, nVidia GTX 690, or nVidia Titan Z.
When you SLI/XFire two of those dual-GPU cards together, it is seen as four GPU’s that are SLI’ed / XFire’d together.
I suppose if you put it that
I suppose if you put it that way. 🙂
Still brings some confusion because a lot don’t think about the Titan Z as a Dual-GPU card. Those are just little things that tend to be overlooked.
Oh. And the Asus X99-M WS
Oh. And the Asus X99-M WS ($280) is an X99-based chipset workstation board, while this ASUS Maximus VIII is Z170-based chipset.
X99 boards (Haswell-E) are almost always more expensive than Z170 motherboards (Skylake), because the X99 chipset is just more expensive to source from Intel.
I thought the manufacturing
I thought the manufacturing cost of the X99 would be very close to the Z170.
By the way, I’m comparing the cost in Canadian Dollars – X99 (379.99) vs. Z170 (294.99)
It’s a $50 difference. The
It’s a $50 difference. The same amount the 6700K costs more than the 5820K.
Thanks Morry, even though I
Thanks Morry, even though I am not in the market for a new mobo, I always enjoy reading your write-ups. I like that you included the NHD 15 cooler for spacing demonstrations, I think it is an excellent idea as it helps really understand the layout distances and challenges with placement of fan headers, USB 3.0, etc.for large coolers.
PCPer: I think you need to
PCPer: I think you need to get one of the VII Gene, and one of the VIII Impact, and build them both inside that Phanteks Enthoo Mini XL Dual System case down below.
Of course, I understand if you guys are too busy for that. You’re welcome to send all the parts to me and I’ll do it for you. 😀
Looks somewhat tempting,
Looks somewhat tempting, except for the lack of a DVI video port. Hopefully, Gigabyte can produce one with similar features: mATX Z170 board with Intel I219-V LAN, Realtek ALC1150 audio, USB 3.1 & these 3 video ports: DVI, DP & HDMI (no VGA). Or: wait a year for the “Kaby Lake” boards to appear.
While in general I would
While in general I would prefer a DVI port over a VGA port, chances are pretty good that the people ASUS is targeting with this board are going to have a discrete GPU (or maybe two) and won’t be using the onboard graphics ports to begin with.
I’d also think chances are pretty good that, since HDMI and DVI are electrically compatible, and HDMI-DVI converters are plentiful and cheap, they chose to keep the HDMI and include the VGA port for compatibility. Or perhaps the VGA port is required per Intel specifications. I don’t know for sure.
(oops, my bad. Doesn’t have a
(oops, my bad. Doesn’t have a VGA port. I’ll stick with my theory on HDMI-DVI converters, then. lol)
Another mATX Z170 board, with
Another mATX Z170 board, with features similar to the Asus Maximus Gene VIII:
Supermicro C7Z170-M – $299.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5EM3BS6230
Note: doesn’t show up via Newegg’s search engine, specifying “Intel motherboard – socket 1151” & “mATX”.
Currently OOS: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9873236
eBay has several listed as “New” for under $200:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/371503778313
http://www.ebay.com/itm/391336978484
Includes:
Realtek ALC1150
Single Gigabit Ethernet LAN port (Intel i219V)
1 DVI-D, 1 DP (Display Port), 1 HDMI <--the only Intel 100 series chipset mATX board with those three IGP video port types, that I'm aware of. 6x SATA3 (6Gbps); RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 Expansion slots: 1 PCI-E 3.0 x16, 1 PCI-E 3.0 x4, and 1 PCI-E 3.0 x1 1 PCIe M.2 (PCIe x4 2260/2280/22110) 6x USB 3.0 (4 rear + 2 via header), 4x USB 2.0 (2 rear + 2 via headers), 2x USB 3.1 (10Gbps) ports (headers) UEFI BIOS support Side note: "2x USB 3.1 (10Gbps) ports (headers)" would seem to imply requiring adding your own USB 3.1 2x port bracket, unless it might be included in the motherboard package.
Hello guys!
If I am allowed I
Hello guys!
If I am allowed I would like to make a (possible) stupid question:
does this motherboard allow to boot into Windows (10) with a NVMe M.2 SSD? Like Samsung 950/960 Pro.
I am looking to upgrade my PC and I do not find this kind of information online.
Thank you in advance.
EDIT 1:
I just went to Samsung 950 Pro video review. According to Ryan Intel Z170 chipset by default supports boot from NVMe M.2, since this is a Z170 motherboard I guess I already have my answer.
Still if someone can confirm that would be nice!